Child and adult steiner education

We offer the following VCE subjects in the context of our whole school ethos, watching to see what is appropriate for the particular cohort and engaging their interest through heartfelt and imaginative content.

Subjects currently offered:

English English Literature Drama

French German

Maths Methods Further Maths Specialist Maths

Physics Biology Chemistry

Geography History

Art Studio Arts

Music Performance Music Investigation (year 12)

In our class ‘communities’ and in our curriculum, we try to bring a little of the whole world. The small size of our school is not the main reason we only offer core subjects.

Our intention is to offer students all the arts, humanities and sciences for as long as possible, with choices first occurring in years eleven and twelve. We hope to cultivate a balanced curriculum, which will touch on as many aspects of knowledge as possible and give a many sided experience to our students.

Students will not only benefit because of the content covered in these subjects, but also from the modes of thinking and perceiving those different disciplines bring. For example, Science subjects train us in a particularly careful and measured observation, while the arts cultivate our inner perception.

There are many benefits from the whole class setting about a task together, as we do here until year eleven.

During tertiary study we anticipate that students will pursue the genius of a particular discipline. We make sure that we are offering the core subjects required for entry into university courses and further training.

It has become fashionable in schools generally to offer a very wide number of subjects, allowing students to specialize early. It is possible now to take subjects that traditionally have not been offered until university, such as legal studies, psychology. These subjects are not prerequisites for further study.

This array of choices can be bewildering to young people, and it is possible, in such a system, for them to make poor choices, closing down options for future study.

Our society encourages specialization. It is a good thing if schools resist this trend. Someone who will be a plumber or a physicist will benefit from taking, say, art in high school, especially because this door may later close to him or her. Someone bound for work in social welfare or psychology will benefit from having been introduced to literature, exploring what it is to be a human being in an artistic way.

There are also many benefits of a small community, and of continuity in school. Students who travel right through the school build very deep friendships and have a sense of completeness when they come to the year twelve assembly.

The general approach to the subjects is covered in the secondary subject descriptions. For more detailed descriptions of VCE curriculum a VCE booklet is provided in the office. You may also refer to the VCAA website- http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/index.aspx